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Conversion from MK8 extruder to E3D V6

Posted by Geartech 
Conversion from MK8 extruder to E3D V6
August 10, 2015 03:06PM
I think I have all the parts to do the conversion, I've got and extra direct drive motor and drive with the fittings for the bowden cable
have a E3D head and bowden cable along with the fittings to connect both ends of the bowden cable.
the only part I will have to make at this point is the mount for the extruder head to the x axis transit bearings and timing belt.

Is there anything else I need to look out for other than re-calibrating my steps for the exruder.
Re: Conversion from MK8 extruder to E3D V6
August 10, 2015 03:36PM
First of all, what printer do you use? You could just use the mk8 with e3d v6, just print the mount here [www.thingiverse.com], may need more plastic but I emphasize on its rigidity, but thanks to laopa, this was based on his design

I currently making another revision for fan duct and fan duct mounts. It should be compatible with previous versions

As for myself using it, I don't have to recalibrate the extruder steps since I reuse the mk8 extruder from geeetech, only the axis for print area, min, max, and z axis

if you decided to go other than mk8, yes you goinna have to do extruder calibration, along with x y z positioning smiling smiley
Re: Conversion from MK8 extruder to E3D V6
August 10, 2015 04:45PM
Printer is a Hesine 505, pretty much like every Prusa i3 clone out there, Melzi v2.0 board ( real 2.0 with 4982 drivers) firmware is Repetire 0.91( not sure that is correct, I don't have a complete understanding of the different firmware and hardware out there yet but I'm working on it) ,acrylic frame that I've stiffened and mounted to a 3/4 birch ply platform to keep it level
and stable.

Going to keep the MK8 drive and just move it from the X axis carriage so I'm only moving the hotend ( E3D) instead of the whole MK8 and hot end I have now.\
Actually have 2 MK8 drive units so in theory I could make a mount system to allow switching between the 2. Don't know why but it could be done.
Re: Conversion from MK8 extruder to E3D V6
August 10, 2015 05:07PM
It can be done too though, but I guess it's a bit of hassle since you have to remove the direct drive, then plug the motor cable to the bowden extruder. Not sure if I understand how you want to operate between direct and bowden. I will stick to direct, even direct drive still can achieve high speed and quality can be improved.

But I kinda curious how you're gonna do this kind of thing smiling smiley
Re: Conversion from MK8 extruder to E3D V6
August 11, 2015 09:45AM
The bowden drives I've seen so far are just MK8 drive with the hot end off of it and the fittings for the
bowden cable added to where the hotend screwed in to the drive frame.
then move it to a bracket on the frame of the printer.
I'll have to change my x carriage extruder mount to fit the new E3D v6 head and connect the other end of the bowden to it.

I may be worng on my assumptions about the drive being the same., I still have some research to do and I don't have the
E3D head in my hands yet
.
I found a few stock pictures of what I'm trying to do, this will be the setup I'm trying to implement on my
printer.
I've got that exact drive unit shown in the attached picture plus the one that came with my printer. So worst case I can go back
to the way it was.
Attachments:
open | download - 07.jpg (293.1 KB)
open | download - 03.jpg (419.2 KB)
Re: Conversion from MK8 extruder to E3D V6
August 11, 2015 11:41AM
Ahh... I see, my mount wouldn't fit on to that unless you make an adapter for it smiling smiley. You could get started now actually, modelling your own mount and carriage, most important is to measure the important place to mount them like screw holes and bearing placement in the carriage.

You could download the e3d v6 dummy found in thingiverse, someone made it based on the spec and his own measurements. I used the dummy model to model my fan duct, quite hard to do it sad smiley.

You also can try to model the mount like my design, much simpler design would do, just take the measurement of screw placement, make some part of the mount flushed for mounting the metal motor mount (currently used for bowden), and a fixed screw holes on the mount.
Re: Conversion from MK8 extruder to E3D V6
August 11, 2015 12:09PM
The dummy e3d head is a good idea, that at least lets me get the x axis carriage built and ready.
the rest is pretty simple.
Re: Conversion from MK8 extruder to E3D V6
August 11, 2015 01:24PM
As for the groove mount adapter, use reference from e3d online store, it's quite accurate though
Re: Conversion from MK8 extruder to E3D V6
August 14, 2015 09:32AM
Got my Drive built, had to drill and tap the aluminum frame for the drive to fit the bowden/pnumatic fitting.
the one it had was just the regular m6 for the hotend tube.
Now to design or print a bracket for the E3D v6 head and re-calibrate everthing.
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